HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The #1 AVCA-ranked Juniata women's volleyball team will vie for a 42nd consecutive overall conference championship and 16th-straight Landmark Conference Championship as they host Scranton for the Landmark Conference Championships Final match on Saturday night at Memorial Gym. The Royals will arrive in Huntingdon for their third consecutive appearance in the Landmark Conference semi-finals following a 17-11, 8-1 campaign with a lone conference loss to Juniata.
Saturday's championship match is slated for Saturday, November 11th, at 7:00 pm, at Memorial Gymnasium.
Admission to Saturday's match is $7 for adults (18+), $4 for minors (10-17) and seniors (62+), while children aged nine and under enjoy free entry. Additionally, all Landmark Conference students, faculty, and staff with their school ID can attend for free. Tomorrow's event can also be streamed on FloSports and is available here.
Juniata will begin play on Saturday night, defending a 55-match winning streak dating back to September 17th of last year. The Eagles also just concluded the program's fourth undefeated regular season, ending 27-0. As things stand, Juniata has the country's best hitting percentage (.295), second-best aces per set rate (3.58), the fourth-most assists per set (13.02), and fourth-lowest opponent hitting percentage (.071).
Olivia Foley has been the primary setter for the country's statistically-best offense, and she currently holds the third-best assists per set rate (11.14) in DIII. Mackenzie Coley's .399 hitting percentage is seveth in DIII. Fellow middle hitter Courtney Williams has the third-best hitting percentage (.316) within the Landmark Conference, while opposite hitter Lily Podolan (.275) and outside hitter Audrey Muth (.269) are eighth and tenth, respectively. The Eagles have five players in the top ten for aces per set in the conference, with Kennedy Christy leading the conference (0.69), Kiona Sky Rousset-Hernandez third (0.67), Sydney Ohl fourth (0.58), Mia Schubert fifth (0.56), and Sophia Repholz seventh (0.55). Rousset-Hernandez is also sixth in conference for digs per set (4.65).
The Royals finished the regular season in second place in the Landmark Conference, and a straight-set win over the third-seeded Elizabethtown in the semi-final earned them the trip to Huntingdon. It's the fourth time that the Royals have reached the finals of the tournament under head coach Jamie Spangler. Scranton currently has the third-best hitting percentage (.197) in the Landmark, third-most assists per set (11.12), third-most aces per set (2.32), and the fourth-lowest opponent hitting percentage (1.57).
Erin Keaveney and Sophia Hadjiyane hold the fifth and sixth-best hitting percentages in the conference at .294 and .293, respectively. Hadjiyane is also fourth in the conference for blocks per set (0.72), while Denna Whelpley ranks fourth for kills per set (3.49). Maddie Forry has been an effective server and passer for the Royals, ranking sixth in conference for aces per set (0.55) and fourth in digs per set (5.35).
Juniata is 39-2 against the Royals, with Scranton last scoring victory in 2017 in a five-set match. This year's regular-season match saw Juniata complete a sweep of the Royals (25-16, 25-14, 25-18) at the John Long Center.
